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Fermented glutinous rice, as a popular food, is a fermented rice wine that comes with a natural sweetness. Wang Ping bought 12 cans of fermented glutinous rice online but found that the sweetness was a little weird. After testing, it turned out that the fermented glutinous rice contained sodium saccharin which is prohibited by law. Wang Ping then sued the court. Recently, Shanghai Railway Transportation Court heard the case of dispute over online shopping contract. [Case Review] The dispute arose from an unpleasant online shopping. Wang Ping bought 12 cans of ¡°Yuzhu Fermented Glutinous Rice¡± from ¡°YouYou Supermarket¡± online store and couldn¡¯t wait to taste it after receiving the goods. However, he found that the flavor was weird and the sweetness seemed to be quite different from the fermented glutinous rice he usually ate. To find out the reason, Wang Ping sent the goods to a testing agency for testing. The results surprised him a lot: sodium saccharide was detected in the goods! According to the standard for the use of food additives, fermented glutinous rice is a kind of food which can¡¯t add sodium saccharin. Believing that the defendant shall be liable for knowingly selling food that fail to meet the food safety standard, Wang Ping sued to Shanghai Railway Transportation Court, requesting the defendant to refund the payment for goods totaling RMB 60, make an compensation of ten times the price paid, that is, RMB 1,000, and bear the testing fee of RMB 1,100 as well as the reasonable expenses incurred by the plaintiff to safeguard his right totaling RMB 200. After accepting the case, Shanghai Railway Transportation Court held YouYou Co., Ltd. as the second defendant according to law. [Case Study] After the trial, Shanghai Railway Transportation Court held that the fermented glutinous rice involved was added with sodium saccharin, which is explicitly prohibited by the national standard for the use of food additives. In addition, as prescribed by law, a food trader shall check a supplier¡¯s permit and the compliance certificate of food in the purchase process. However, YouYou Supermarket failed to provide evidence proving the legitimate source and quality of the goods, and it failed to fulfill its obligation of inspecting the incoming goods as a seller, resulting in the inflow of nonconforming food into the market and constituting the act of knowingly selling food that fail to meet the food safety standard. Pursuant to the law, in addition to claiming damages, a consumer may require a producer of food failing to meet the food safety standards or a trader knowingly dealing in such food to pay an indemnity of ten times the price paid or three times the loss; or if the amount of the additional compensation is less than RMB 1,000, it shall be RMB 1,000. Therefore, Shanghai Railway Transportation Court ordered YouYou Co., Ltd. to refund the payment for the goods totaling RMB 60, make a compensation of ten times the price paid totaling RMB 1,000 and bear the testing fee of RMB 1,100, while Wang Ping, the plaintiff, shall return all the goods involved in this case. Sodium saccharin is a commonly used synthetic sweetener in the food industry, whose sweetness is 300-500 times higher than that of the cane sugar. It¡¯s not easy to be decomposed in the living body, and can be retained and accumulated in the human body for quite a long time, causing damage to the human body to a certain extent. In view of its low cost, some enterprises will use sodium saccharin beyond the approved scope and limit during the production of beverage and processing of food, so as to make more profits. However, they didn¡¯t specify the existence of sodium saccharin and its real content on the label of food and beverage, so that consumers mistakenly think that what they eat is sugar, which damages the health of consumers and seriously infringes on consumers¡¯ right to know. (All names are made-up.) [Relevant Laws] I. Food Safety Law of the People¡¯s Republic of China Article 34 The following food, food additives, and food-related products shall be prohibited from production and trade: ... (4) Food using food additives beyond the approved scope or limit; ... Article 53 In the purchase of food, a food trader shall check a supplier¡¯s permit and ex-factory inspection certificate or any other compliance certificate of food (hereinafter referred to as ¡°compliance certification documents¡±). Article 148... In addition to claiming damages, a consumer may require a producer of food failing to meet the food safety standards or a trader knowingly dealing in such food to pay an indemnity of ten times the price paid or three times the loss; or if the amount of the additional compensation is less than RMB 1,000, it shall be RMB 1,000, except for a defect in the labels or instructions of the food which neither impairs food safety nor misleads consumers.
